SonicSpike writes: ""An effort by three U.S. senators to add an Internet sales tax amendment to a military spending bill has failed, at least for now.

Last week, Senators Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, Mike Enzi, a Wyoming Republican, and Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, proposed a version of the Marketplace Fairness Act as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, a large military spending bill.

But on Monday, the Senate voted to close debate on the defense bill and proceed toward a final vote without considering the sales tax amendment.

Still, the trio of senators may try to find another bill to which they can add the sales tax amendment, a spokeswoman for Durbin said.

The Marketplace Fairness Act would allow the 46 U.S. states with sales taxes to require online sellers with no physical presence within their borders to collect the tax from their customers. Currently, due to a 1992 Supreme Court ruling, online retailers that have no physical presence in a state don't have to collect sales tax from residents who buy from them. As a result, the states receive no sales tax from those transactions.""